MEEKER | The public is invited to watch the 2023 Meeker Mustang Makeover trainers select and pick their wild horse for the August competition on Saturday, April 29 in Meeker, Colorado. You will also have a chance to see mustang trainer Steve Mantle start two horses during clinics to show some techniques on starting an untrained horse and enjoy a great breakfast and dinner, all at the Rio Blanco County Fairgrounds in Meeker, Colorado. Come, bring your family and friends!
Go home with your own Piceance Mustang! Yearlings and three-year-olds will be available for adoption at Meeker Mustang Makeover’s pick-up day April 29. Horses will be available for review Friday, April 28 from 12 to 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 29 (pickup day) from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The silent auction will follow between 3 and 3:30 p.m. with bids awarded at 3:30 p.m. | CINDY DAY PHOTO
Touching a wild horse for the first time can be one of the most heart thumping and rewarding sensations imaginable. Anyone who loves the West, and horses, is invited to bring family and friends to be part of the journey these never-touched horses and their trainers are just beginning.
This year our trainers will have the pick of our beautiful local Piceance horses. (Piceance means “tall grass” in Ute). These horses have not been gathered for years so this will be the public’s opportunity to view them up close after the 2022 summer gather. There will be a mix of blacks, bays, buckskins, roans and sorrels.
Trainers will include several young locals from Rio Blanco County as well as youth and adults from across Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
Under Saddle Division
Allred, Clay 16 Rangely
Allred, Wade 59 Rangely
Belt, Marny 28 Simla
Clawson, Brittany 31 Cody, WY
Hampson, Thadeus 22 Livingston, MT
Julian, Sydnee 23 Nunn
O’Brien, Kerry 69 Mancos
Olague, Manuel 36 Afton, WY
Pflueger, Eric 45 Nunn
Pflueger, Kylie 17 Nunn
Philips, Clara 21 Nunn
Rippy, Kari 33 Larkspur
Rodriguez-Alexander, Alicia 30 Wellington
Stallings, Jericho 17 Meeker
Vance, Heather 16 Shepard, MT
First Alternate: McSweeney, Grace 21 Meeker
Youth Yearling In-Hand Division
Allred, Chance 13 Rangely
Barnes, Addison 15 Brighton
Bouzarelous, Angelina 16 Centennial
Francis, Elyse 17 Rangely
James, Jakob 11 Oak Creek
Stallings, Jairus 13 Meeker
When: Saturday, April 29 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Trainers draw at 8:30 a.m. to choose their Mustang
Where: Rio Blanco County Fairgrounds, Meeker
Refreshments: Breakfast and lunch will be served right at the event.
During the Pick-Up Event, one of the best wild horse trainers in our region, Steve Mantle of Mantle Ranch, Wheatland, Wyoming, will hold a clinic for the fifth annual Meeker Mustang Makeover trainers. The public is invited to observe Mantle start two Mustangs, as he helps the trainers see first-hand how natural horsemanship can help the process of gaining trust and gentling these horses.
Starting at 9:30 a.m., Mantle will hold his “Starting a Yearling Clinic” which uses a yearling mustang. The clinic will include first steps for the youth trainers who will pick up their yearling mustangs that morning. Then, at 1 p.m., Mantle will hold his “Starting a Three-Year Old Clinic,” also approximately two hours, where he will start with a 3-year old mustang, and work through the early first steps to get the horse ready for handling. Clinic Audit fee (for both) is $10, 12 and under free.
For more information and questions about the clinics and the competition, see our website MeekerMustangMakeover.org, and reach out on our Facebook page: Meeker Mustang Makeover.
An earlier version of this story had a misspelling of Sydnee Julian’s name.
Special to the Herald Times
